


Where's Your Holiday Spirit, Hollis?

by carmillahey



Category: Carmilla (Web Series)
Genre: Carmilla Secret Santa, F/F
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-12-25
Updated: 2016-12-25
Packaged: 2018-09-12 00:14:17
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 876
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9046790
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/carmillahey/pseuds/carmillahey
Summary: It's christmas time and Laura has work to do. Carmilla gives her the break she deserves.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [ukulelekatie](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ukulelekatie/gifts).



> I had a lot more planned out for this au but it never made it to paper. Consider this a teaser of a kind ??? I might continue it if I find the motivation. happy holidays!
> 
> special shout out to katie, who I wrote this for.

Laura hadn’t known what to expect when she opened the envelope.

 

Her initial reaction was overflowing with complete apathy. The card inside presented itself like any other holiday-themed invitation; laminated paper decorated in snowflakes, holly, red and green ribbons bordering the elegant font of a generic greeting inviting her to a Christmas gathering on the 23rd.

 

She almost threw it straight into the trash, considering her work shift down at the local second hand store ran through the entire winter season. She didn’t have the time celebrate much this year beyond her job and simple holiday traditions. She planned to come home to her father, binge watch her favorite television shows while sipping the festive drinks she only allowed herself this time of year, and then open presents when the clock struck midnight.

 

Laura had made peace with it. Not every holiday was able to be over the top like she wished; her college experience had proven that too well. She was always crammed with school work or studying for the next big test, working at her job to earn enough to eat that week or helping out her fellow associates in extracurricular activities. Regardless, all the “real life” experiences taught her to appreciate what little free time she had and now that she had graduated from college, nothing had changed. She was just as busy but in different ways, working her ass off to make her career successful.

 

However, the name just below all the details, along with the return address, were what stopped Laura in her tracks and violently shifted her off course.

 

It was signed by each member of the Karnstein family.

 

_ Karnstein _ .

  
As in Carmilla Karnstein, the girl whom she had painfully crushed on for her entire secondary school career. 

 

She wheezed as all the air rushed out of her lungs on their own accord. Suddenly, the ugly sweater she adorned felt stifling. 

 

Their relationship never seemed to make it passed acquaintanceship. They had met through mutual friends in the beginning of the year, gradually engaging in small, hushed talks in the library when they felt comfortable enough. Laura often clung to Carmilla when it was time to pick a partner for class projects or group work. They didn't hang out beyond the school, instead sharing glances across hallways and classrooms and cafeterias. 

 

Carmilla was a mystery and Laura didn't have the chance to get close enough and figure her out. Despite those facts, she was left hopelessly pining after every encounter and burned through almost every sad pop and love playlist in her ipod as she wrote embarrassingly dramatic journal entries about the brunette in question.

  
God, Carmilla would laugh hysterically if she ever found out. 

 

She doubled checked to ensure her eyes weren’t playing tricks on her. Maybe she had drank a little too much eggnog that night or eaten too many of her dad’s famous snickerdoodles. The sugar-induced haze must be creating the hallucination of her high school self’s wildest dreams.

 

Nope, it was definitely real.

 

Laura anxiously picked at the ripped envelope, turning it over in her hands in repetitive motions. There were several options here:

 

She could throw the invitation away like she had originally planned and forget the whole thing like she never even opened it. She could continue to live her simple, risk free life, working and achieving her dreams, sans-Carmilla. Safe, effortless, no repressed feelings coming to light or dredging up the past.

 

… Or she could go. She could easily attend the party right after her shift ended and arrive fashionably late but within reason. She hadn’t seen the other girl since high school graduation when they departed to go to different colleges and she really did miss her. What little parts Carmilla had shown to her was enough to have her swooning, she can’t imagine what would happen if they were proper _friends_. She was yearning to know what happened in the 4 years she’d been gone. What did Carmilla do after high school? What are her dreams, her passions? Has she changed in all the time that has passed or does she remain the same? Does she still blast punk music at an unreasonable volume or refuse to even breathe in the presence of garlic because it "irritates her taste buds"?

 

Feeling the fire of determination burning beneath her, there was only one way for Laura to truly find out.

 

“Fuck,” Laura sighed out, slamming the card on the counter much more harsher than intended and slumping her upper half over where she had just placed it.

 

She was screwed.

 

She blamed her decision to attend the party on her curious and journalistic nature. 

 

It was an urge that she found impossible to control at the worst of times, often getting her in trouble. She wedged her way into people’s business, eavesdropping when she deemed it important, and snooped around through evidence of her self-created “investigations.” Her interest in Carmilla and the Karnstein’s Christmas gathering was no different; it was a metaphorical itch on her left calf she needed to scratch. As soon as she figured out Carmilla, she would be satisfied and ready to bury the past back in the grave that it belongs. 

 

At least, that's what she told herself.

 


End file.
